Zarya from Overwatch
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I’m making this tutorial specially for Valentine, but I figured maybe it might help someone else, so let’s do this.
Let’s always remind that there’s no global authority in art, and the way I’m explaining is just the way I do it. Therer are DOZENS of different ways, some even better, but let’s cut the chatter.
First off, If you’re not using Clip Studio you can use the regular laso tool and just fill it, so bear with me. This first tool is the Laso Fill Tool. Basically it closes the selected area and fill it. I’m using Stabilizer at 30 for this. The intention of the stabilizer is to avoid trembling lines and such, so I shake my cursor as I draw to stress the stabilizer out and make it cry.

Keep in mind the point of energy will be wider and the tail will be thiner. This also goes for curved trails for attacks and such. If you mess it up, just use Mesh transform and you can get it the way you wanted in a second.

Next, I duplicate the layer and add the Special Ruler - Focus Curve to the copy. With a little bit of Fingertip Blur I pull the flame towards the end of the tail to help add movement and energy.

Ops… Well, Lock the Opacity and paint it your favourite fire color. After that, set the upper layer to Glow Dodge and the bottom one to Add Glow. Adjust the opacity to whatever you feel works. (in this case I used 35% and 70%)

Make a new layer and with a soft white brush, paint the core of the energy. You know ? That center of the flame that hurts your eye when you look at it for too long. Put it on Add Glow and adjust Opacity.

When fire loses energy it gets reddish. Add some red soft brush to the edges of the flame to make it stand out a little. If the fire sillhouette looks too busy or blurry, use a hard eraser to carve some holes in it. You can do that for all layers if you think something is standing out too much.

The ending result is something in this lines. Again: I’m no authority in the subject, this is just the way I do it, but I hope it helps you guys. :)
Do you think this tutorial was somewhat helpful?
Here are some older Delphi and Otis thingies I finally went back to and finished messing with.
Comission for foreling! His awesome character, Oni!
Had a lot of fun making this one! Glad you liked it Fore! :D
I’d like to believe that for every pretty picture of an original character, they have several dozen of the variety on the right stashed away somewhere. ( I know I do. Though.. most of my silly faces are not a conscious choice. )
A selection of Backgrounds from the Steven Universe episode: Steven and the Stevens
Art Direction: Elle Michalka
Design: Steven Sugar, Emily Walus, Jake Wyatt
Paint: Amanda Winterstein, Jasmin Lai
Ami’s Hypnotic Donger Dance, all cleaned up~